At 11 a.m., Mayor Bloomberg will visit Lucky’s Cafe, 593 First Avenue at 34th St., Manhattan. The restaurant is voluntarily implementing the ban on large sugary drinks that was struck down in court yesterday.

Former Assemblyman Jimmy Meng will be sentenced after pleading guilty in 2012 to bribery charges. 11:30 a.m., U.S. District Court, Brooklyn, Judge Ross, Room 4-C.

Bloomberg discussed the court’s overturning of his soda ban with David Letterman.

“We think the judge is totally in error in the way he interpreted the law and we’re very confident that we will win on appeal,” Bloomberg said.

The state Supreme Court judge in question, Manhattan’s Milton A. Tingling Jr., has displayed a palpable sensitivity to the power of the government — and a willingness to push back when the government may be going too far.

After insisting for more than a year that hiking the state’s minimum wage would boost unemployment in New York, Senate Republicans signaled a willingness to move the wage levels higher over a three-year period.

The Republicans did not specify the rate to which they would be willing to raise the state’s hourly wage.

“What I said in our budget resolution is that I would consider it, along with other business tax credits and incentives,” said Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos.

IDC leader Jeff Klein was spinning a different version of the Senate resolution’s inclusion of minimum wage.

Cuomo called this a “sign of progress,” but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was skeptical.

IDC member Malcolm Smith said increasing the minimum wage will decrease the number of summer youth employment slots available.

The Senate and Assembly passed competing one-house budget plans. Cuomo says he supports lawmakers’ funding restorations “if they can figure out how to pay for it.”

The Senate resolution, crafted by Republicans and the IDC, removes $3.2 million slated for the state police to implement the new firearms restrictions, and strips away $32.7 million for a state database of pistol permits.

The DN’s Bill Hammond on the governor’s third year “slump”: “Since notching the gun law…Cuomo seems to have lost some of his tough edge — and his stomach for difficult fights, especially ones that threaten Albany’s entrenched interests.”

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise: “By consolidating communications in Albany, Gov. Cuomo has built up something in the direction of “1984?‘s Ministry of Truth – a shameful thing in this land of the free.”

New York’s Timothy Dolan is on the list of 20 cardinals who might be pope.

Cuomo said pro-frackers need to do a better job at getting their message out.

AG Eric Schneiderman’s office defended the governor’s use of messages of necessity in response to a lawsuit challenging the SAFE Act.

Gun rights activists, hunters and others unleashed a fusillade of criticism for the state’s sweeping new gun control law and rallied behind the call of one Albany County lawmaker to repeal it.

More than 1,000 supporters of gun rights, most wearing red stickers reading “N.R.A. Stand and Fight,” packed the atrium of the Connecticut State Capitol on in Hartford as protracted negotiations on new gun laws seemed to be lurching toward a resolution.

Asked after he met with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and state GOP Chair Ed Cox, the Rev. A.R. Bernard said he won’t likely run for NYC mayor unless there’s a “compelling reason” for him to get into the race. Otherwise, he’s “thinking more nationally.”

The crux of Joe Lhota’s campaign pitch as he runs for NYC mayor: The gains the city has made are “fragile” and would be undone by a Democrat too close to public employee unions.

The Panel for Educational Policy has voted to close 22 low-performing schools in four of NYC’s five boroughs (not Staten Island).

The panel’s vote effectively ended any hope of reversing Bloomberg’s education policy into the next mayor’s hands.

Fifteen bigs in entertainment and politics — including Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder — were hacked and had their financial details or sensitive material published online.

Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch left the bulk of his $10.5-$11 million estate to his sister, Pat Thaler, but gave a $100,000 bequest to his longtime secretary, Mary Garrigan.

The Grand Island Board of Education is considering about 25 personnel reductions in an effort to close a $1.5?million gap between expenses and revenues in the 2013-14 budget.

If the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District stays within the adjusted tax cap this year, its 2013-14 budget would be more than $1.4 million short, according to district officials.

The Oswego County, Onondaga County and Syracuse industrial development agencies are among the biggest givers of tax exemptions to businesses in New York, according to the state Authorities Budget Office.

More than four months after the last election and a few months into a new election cycle, former Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle will hold a gathering next week to thank her supporters and volunteers.

The former congresswoman also is listed as a panelist Friday at the annual CPAC in suburban Washington, D.C. The three-day event at National Harbor is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservatives.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is harnessing the clout of the $153 billion pension fund to urge three nuclear power companies – including Indian Point’s owner – to change how they store used nuclear fuel.